Practical English
June 16, 2010 7:42 AM   Subscribe

Teaching Korean ESL students how to swear. (NSFW SLYT)
posted by gman (45 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
Pickled!
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 7:47 AM on June 16, 2010


Thank you!
posted by smartypantz at 7:48 AM on June 16, 2010


It's true, ESL students need to learn English vulgarities, which they will certainly encounter even if they are too polite to use them, and native speakers of English who are if anything too well acquainted with English vulgarities, need to learn how to express themselves more intelligently.
posted by grizzled at 7:52 AM on June 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Let's sexy English!
posted by mkb at 7:55 AM on June 16, 2010


Fucking awesome!
posted by aqsakal at 7:57 AM on June 16, 2010


All my Korean friends in school had this aspect of English down pat, now I know why!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:58 AM on June 16, 2010


"You fuking son of bitch!"

"Yes, thank you, very much!"
posted by Brocktoon at 8:02 AM on June 16, 2010


Needs a "NSFPW" (not safe for pregnant women) tag!!
posted by raztaj at 8:03 AM on June 16, 2010 [5 favorites]


The pregnant woman line makes me feel this is a sendup and not an actual ESL instruction. I admit I may have my sensitivity towards pregnant women and swearing turned down, however.
posted by cavalier at 8:16 AM on June 16, 2010


Well, I'll be a son of a beach.
posted by Ritchie at 8:16 AM on June 16, 2010


Well, I'll be a son of a beach

Or, if girl, just beach.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 8:19 AM on June 16, 2010


Pickled! That delights me!
posted by SaharaRose at 8:21 AM on June 16, 2010


My nipples explode with delight!
posted by Anything at 8:21 AM on June 16, 2010


You fargin sum-num a bastige!
posted by Increase at 8:25 AM on June 16, 2010


I am this very moment training a bunch of Korean ESL teachers here in Daegu. Basically training them not to teach like this. He is relying on a lot of Korean translation at the expense of thorough language analysis, and the result is a highly inaccurate presentation of his target language:
  • son of of bitch
  • fuking
  • "what the fucking"
  • "you fucking son of bitch"
Shame on him, a little advance checking in Swan's Learner English would have saved him from all of these basic mistakes.
posted by Meatbomb at 8:34 AM on June 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


"Little children and pregnant women should not watch."
posted by clvrmnky at 8:37 AM on June 16, 2010


"Your English is fucking sick!"

Gods, I could quote from this all day.
posted by clvrmnky at 8:43 AM on June 16, 2010


does anyone know the english equivalent to 'jolla' and that other word that he is so cautious about using?
posted by Mach5 at 8:43 AM on June 16, 2010


Metafilter: You cannot fight them, using the American language.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:49 AM on June 16, 2010


Ob. Liblr.
posted by droob at 8:51 AM on June 16, 2010




Fucking USA!

:(
posted by elmwood at 9:22 AM on June 16, 2010


Years ago, when I was teaching English to primary school students in northeastern China, I asked the kids what they were planning to do for the upcoming May Day holiday. One of the brighter kids said that he and his parents were going to go to the seaside town of Dalian, "because I love the bitches."

I know now, and knew perfectly well then, that a lot of Chinese second-language speakers of English have problems distinguishing between 'i' and 'ee,' but that line still makes me so happy.
posted by bokane at 9:35 AM on June 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


His golf hat is fucking sick.
posted by gnidan at 9:39 AM on June 16, 2010


Son of bitch. Shit.
posted by cazoo at 9:53 AM on June 16, 2010


Our next English phrase: "Joanie loves Chachi."
posted by zippy at 10:03 AM on June 16, 2010


One of the brighter kids said that he and his parents were going to go to the seaside town of Dalian, "because I love the bitches."

My mother's cuban college roommate had to teach herself to put fresh "linens" on the bed.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:04 AM on June 16, 2010


Tee hee. "In our eyes...even elementary kids don't use (asshole) because it's childish" (2:57)
posted by Lisitasan at 10:21 AM on June 16, 2010


Not bad, but it's not quite as funny as Japanese Hooker Lessons . You can find it on Youtube. ( I couldn't link it because it's got adult content and won't let you view it without signing in, or up and I ain't signing up.)
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:28 AM on June 16, 2010


I tought conversational English in the Czech Republic for a summer and the class I did on swearing did a lot to ease the tension the kids/adults had around hearing themselves speak and not wanting to make a mistake. More traditional classes after that went a lot easier perhaps because we all felt we had broken a taboo together.

That being said, the 15 minutes we spent on the concept and proper pronounciation of "motherfucker" was amazing.
posted by WASP-12b at 10:45 AM on June 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


One of the brighter kids said that he and his parents were going to go to the seaside town of Dalian, "because I love the bitches."

French students of mine had almost the same problem. But when I said the word "beach" they'd giggle. I had to straighten them out on that one by making them practice their i's vs. e's.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 11:13 AM on June 16, 2010




tought

Just one summer, huh?
posted by emelenjr at 11:38 AM on June 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


Metafilter: the 15 minutes we spent on the concept and proper pronounciation of "motherfucker" was amazing.
posted by The Whelk at 11:59 AM on June 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


Look at the little butt he drew! Also: butthole.
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:29 PM on June 16, 2010


Oh wow, that was hilarious!

If it isn't already obvious, this is a legit teacher who's having some deadpan fun with the 'conventions' of these recorded video-lessons that are very very common in Korea.
posted by suedehead at 1:02 PM on June 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Gah. I actually try to get my students not to swear. The first thing any self-respecting language student (at least of the teenage variety) does is look up the 'bad' words. This of course usually means they end up using them in class, or in other, horribly inappropriate times. Myself, some of the only Chinese I learned were phrases an ex-PLA friend taught me, and he basically told me what I tell my students, that these are fighting words (seriously, the Chinese he taught me was rather impressive, and I'm sure if I used it, fisticuffs would follow), and that I should never use them unless I was ready to defend myself afterwards.

What I try to impress on my junior high students is, yeah, these words are fun. On the other hand, they don't know when to use them, and if they use them at the wrong time, or towards the wrong person, it can cause them harm, possibly physically. Personally, I swear all the time, but I do it in places and at times where (usually) it's acceptable. Most ESL students don't know enough about the culture to know when and where that is. Hell, you should see the difficulties they have distinguishing the differences between see, look, and watch. They have enough on their plate without needing to figure out if it's okay to tell someone to fuck off. To me, one of the main points about teaching ESL is that I'm supposed to be helping my students, not possibly endangering them just so I can enjoy listening to 12 year-olds scream 'motherfucker' at the top of their lungs.

/killjoy who's had to explain, too many times, why students shouldn't be giving each other the finger in class.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:16 PM on June 16, 2010


My hovercraft is full of eels.
posted by pianoboy at 4:44 PM on June 16, 2010


I just remain reticent.
posted by anazgnos at 7:51 PM on June 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


In retrospect, that GMV scene anazgnos linked is hilarious. The students seemed to fully comprehend a lecture spoken entirely in English, and spoke it just fine. There's something utterly absurd about these people being in that class.

I mean, yeah, it's Hollywood, and they have to cut corners to tell the story, but this is one of those situations where it just really jumps out as baloney. In this case he happens to be *teaching a class* in English, so the movie guys really should have filled that classroom with people who at least gave off the suggestion that they required such instruction.

It's very '80s.
posted by jeremy b at 8:24 PM on June 16, 2010


Seconding Ghidorah. It's fun to teach bad words to students, and you get a lot of "a-ha!" moments from some of them, as they've heard them before in movies and such. But I stress that I'm teaching them to recognize words they passively hear or read, and that they should never actively speak or write them. Just the other day I was explaining what's funny about Calpis water ("cow piss") and the students got a big laugh out of it. But I also told them to not use it with others.

Effective swearing in a second language is very, very difficult to pull off, and at best can seem cute and endearing. Not terribly effective if you're trying to vent anger.
posted by zardoz at 8:48 PM on June 16, 2010



Effective swearing in a second language is very, very difficult to pull off, and at best can seem cute and endearing. Not terribly effective if you're trying to vent ang
er.

The differences between the UK and US usages of "fanny" are enough to keep my French in the most bizarrely polite and formal 19th century diction.
posted by The Whelk at 8:55 PM on June 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


the goal of French Swearing is Quebecois Swearing, cause at it's height it literally makes NO SENSE to anyone else.
posted by The Whelk at 8:56 PM on June 16, 2010


시발놈!!
posted by bardic at 9:10 PM on June 16, 2010


As a follow up, one of the most depressing thing about learning Japanese (aside from the difficulty) is that there just aren't that many bad words. The bad words that are there (the word for pussy, and the word for dick) get used on TV, but one character gets edited out. There really isn't any colorful cursing. At least with Chinese, or French, or yeah, English, you're learning a language where you can say the most incredible insults, exclamations, and outright filth.

Talking dirty in Japanese is like listening to junior high school Mormons making out. Most people literally refer to women's genitalia as 'down there.' Depressing.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:33 PM on June 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


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